HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Greta Moore has been a loyal Kmart shopper for 30 years, but she wasn't surprised when she heard the big-box retailer will close its Huntsville store in mid-January.

"I'd noticed fewer and fewer cars, but every time I came in, I prayed they aren't closing," she said. "I'm going to miss it like crazy. I don't know where I'm going to take my prescriptions to."

The 1401 Memorial Parkway store, which spokesman Howard Riefs said opened in November 1970 and employs 73 mostly part-time/hourly workers, stopped accepting new layaway customers last week. A liquidation sale will launch at the site Nov. 2.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2014, Sears Holding Corp., which operates through its subsidiaries Sears, Kmart and Roebuck & Co., experienced a net loss of $573 million compared to $194 million the previous year.

Riefs said in an emailed statement that "closures are part of a series of actions we're taking to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model." The Huntsville store is the only Kmart in Alabama slated to close, Riefs said.

"These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail - at the store, online and in the home," Riefs said. "Our investments in Shop Your Way and Integrated Retail enable us to migrate the shopping activity of highly engaged members who previously shopped these closed stores to alternative channels."

Through those programs, Reifs said the company hopes "to retain a portion of the sales previously associated with these stores by nurturing and maintaining our relationships with the members that shopped these locations."

"I am just so sad," said Huntsville resident Fran Cranston, who has shopped at Kmart for years and is a current layaway customer. "I don't know if I'll go anywhere else. It's like I just always find cute little things here for my grandkids."

Affected employees will be eligible for severance packages and have an opportunity to apply for positions at other Sears or Kmart stores.

Shoppers who have layaway contracts at the Memorial Parkway store have the option to either pay off their contract early or transfer it to another store or online.

"This does entail cancelling the contract and re-creating it," Riefs said. "This can be initiated by our customers and done by an associate in-store. We are communicating with our layaway customers as they come in weekly to make their payments. We truly apologize for any customer inconvenience."

Updated at 12:46 p.m. to include customer quotes.

Updated at 4:47 p.m. to correct the date for when Kmart opened on the Parkway. Kmart incorrectly said it opened in August 1984.